The present invention is directed at improving highway safety by enabling a more efficient use of law enforcement resources, and more accurate and equitable distribution of vehicle insurance costs. The present invention relates to a system and method for enforcing speed limits on highways by utilizing wireless communications and digital signal processing technology.
Nearly every highway in the world has a posted speed limit. However, anyone who drives a car knows that the posted speed limits are ignored by a large number of drivers. These speeding drivers often drive recklessly at a speed well over the posted speed limit. These speeding drivers are the cause of countless accidents each year, resulting in a substantial number of injuries and fatalities. The only system in place today to catch or stop such speeding drivers is the presence of police officers, whether on the highway in their cars, overhead in helicopters or in some countries, the use of fixed cameras or the like. The police often use doppler radar or laser guns to check the speed of cars. However, the number of speeding drivers far outnumber the number of law enforcement officials dedicated to enforcing the posted speed limits. Furthermore, the speeders are often equipped with laser or doppler radar detectors, and are thus often able to evade police detection.
The prior art systems for enforcing speed limits have a number of deficiencies. First, the prior art systems are expensive and an inefficient use of limited law enforcement resources. The police spend much of their time hiding from speeding motorists in an effort to catch them. Also, if the police do detect a speeding car they may need to engage in a high speed chase in order to catch the speeder, which can result in a more dangerous atmosphere for other innocent drivers. The police may also catch innocent drivers, who merely speed up for a limited short time in order to pass a slower moving vehicle. The prior art systems have no means to provide a speeding driver with any real-time feedback of the consequences of his speeding.
The prior art system of reliance on police presence is inadequate to meet the demands of enforcing the speed limit. The present invention is directed at overcoming the shortcomings of the prior art and is directed at a system and method for enforcing speed limits.